It is not known to us who originally named the Torah portions, yet we still consider them part of the Torah. When one adds a name to his existing name and uses it for thirty days, it becomes his name to the fullest extent of the law. An official document that would not have this new name on it would be void. The names of the Torah portions have been in use for at least a thousand years by great Rabbis. This is enough time to make them one with the portions they represent.

The name of the Parsha is more than merely one or two words from the first verse. They reflect the content of the entire portion. In the case of this week?s Parsha, Lech Lecha, this might need some clarification.

Hashem tells Avraham (then still Avram, but we will call him by the name Hashem gave him) to GO, ?lech? to you -?lecha?.

There are many explanations as to what ?Lecha? means. The simple meaning is ?to yourself?. Avraham is told to travel to his inner self, to take a spiritual journey into his essence, his soul. The Torah then continues to tell us about his trip. Avraham travels to the south, with each step getting closer to Yerushalayim, the Holy city in the Holy land. (An upward journey).

All this is related in a few short verses. Before we even reach ?Sheini?, the story takes a sharp turn for the worse. Famine breaks out in (what would later become) Israel and Avraham is forced to go elsewhere to look for food. He has to leave the Holy Land and go to Egypt where morality was at an all time low. How is it that part of "Lech Lecha", the journey meant to bring Avraham to ?the land that I will show you? where ?I will make you into a big nation, bless you, and make you famous??

Why would Avraham be forced to leave ?the land that I will show you?? In what way was this famine the blessing he was promised?

When Hashem told Avraham he would make his name well known, He did not mean Avraham?s name as an individual, for Avraham was a very humble man who considered himself ?dust and ashes?, and was not interested in becoming famous. He was also the only person in the world who believed in G-d and therefore Hashem wanted him to go around and spread monotheism everywhere. (The Midrash explains: Avraham can be likened to a box with incense somewhere in a small corner where no one smells it. By picking it up and shaking it around and placing it in different spots, the whole room starts smelling like the incense.) By spreading Avraham?s name, Hashem?s own name would in result become famous as well. In actuality, the name Avraham was synonymous with G-d?s.

We can picture how the media in those days interpreted the famine. Here was a stranger (a Jew!) and his following arriving in the country, claiming that there is only one G-d and denying the power of all other ?gods?. And then the people were punished with a famine! Of course the Jew is to blame! How can this be effective in the mission of ?Lech Lecha?? Instead of bringing glory to Hashem?s name, the famine would cause the opposite effect!As Avraham approached Egypt, he told his wife Sarah, "I know that you are beautiful" and therefore we have to think of a plan to keep you away from the eyes of the Egyptians. (As we said before, they had very low moral standards and did not consider marriage sacred).

The Baal Shem Tov explains that Avraham?s sudden awareness of his wife?s physical beauty came as a result of being in the vicinity of people with low moral standards. Avraham had ?seen? his wife many times through his eyes but his mind had always been connected to higher spiritual worlds and he had not focused on her physical beauty. His closeness with divinity was interrupted when he got close to Egypt because of the negative powers that rested there. That is when his mind started recording what his eyes saw.

From this we can see how the trip to Egypt was a spiritual descent too. How is this ?Lech Lecha?? "Ma?ase Avot Siman Labanim." The deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children.This means both that we can learn a lesson from all the actions of our forefathers, the Patriarchs, and that everything that happened to them was a sign (or prediction) of what would happen to their children.

Why did Avraham and Sarah go down to Egypt?

Everything in existence has to be created and constantly recreated and sustained by Hashem. This applies to good as well as evil. The difference (in their manner of creation) is that good is served on a silver platter whereas evil is thrown like leftovers in the dog- house.

In order for Pharaoh to receive his ?leftovers?, he needed Avraham to be in his country. Avraham had to go to Egypt to give this power to Pharaoh because their great grandchildren were going to meet again. Wherever the Jewish people are exiled, the divine presence goes with them. As much as it is embarrassing for the divine presence to be in exile, it would be even more belittling if this exile was caused by an insignificant power. Therefore we find that both temples were destroyed by the superpowers of their time. (The Babylonians and the Romans.) Today, America is a superpower because (after Israel), it boasts the biggest Jewish population as we see in cities such as NY, LA Chicago etc., which all have large and noticeable Jewish communities. Spain was a mighty country up until the Inquisition, as was Russia until recently when thousands of Jews left. Besides the fact that Jews build up the counties and cities of their residence with their wisdom, the entire country is blessed automatically as a result of the Jews accompanied by G-d?s Shechina in their midst.

This started when Avraham went to Egypt. Merely 3 generations later, in the days of Yosef, Egypt ruled over the entire world! Only then was Egypt "ready" to take Yakov and family into exile. In order for Pharaoh to get the most out of Avraham, he tried to make Sarah his wife. In later generations we find similar situations. Achashverosh actually managed to marry Esther and his kingdom was blessed for a few more generations. During the Roman occupation, the leading Rabbis used to be frequent visitors in Rome. Although they came to nullify decrees against the Jewish people, the deeper meaning behind their visits was to give strength to offset the negative powers that were sustaining Rome. Obviously, all the Pharaohs and Roman rulers were not aware of this themselves, but their sources in the spiritual realm knew how to arrange this.

Good always prevails. Torah tells us that the entire household was struck with a severe sickness. This was because Avraham?s power of holiness was too overwhelming for the power of evil found in Pharaoh?s house. ?Oneg? (divine) pleasure, became ?Nega?, an affliction. When a torch is held next to small flames, the smaller flames are drawn into the big fire.

When Pharaoh realized he was unable to get anywhere near Sarah (as a result of the blinding holiness) he came running to Avraham. He profusely apologized for trying to take away his wife and offered him many presents, including sheep and cows and donkeys and camels. Sheep and cows are kosher animals while donkeys and camels are not. Pharaoh had intended to feed himself off the spiritual powers of Avraham. Instead, the power that had sustained him till then was drawn into Avraham. Even the non-kosher animals, that represent impure powers, were given to him.

That explains why it says that Avraham gained a lot because of Sarah. BECAUSE she had been in the palace of evil, he managed to retrieve all the spiritual powers that had been stuck there.

History repeated itself a few generations later. The descendants of Avraham were slaves in Egypt, ruled by the great grandson of the original Pharaoh. Just like Sarah was never touched, so the Egyptians did not have the power to touch the Jewish women. In Egypt not one Jew married out and (with exactly one exception), no Jewish women had children from Egypt men. When it came time to leave, again the Egyptians ran to give the Jews all their belongings. Only then, after all the spiritual powers had been redeemed from Egypt, were the Jewish people ready to receive the Torah on Mt Sinai.

THIS is what "Lech Lecha" is all about. The entire Parsha speaks about an upwards journey. The seemingly descent to Egypt was in essence only a step down that would result in going (to be able to go) higher. That step down by Avraham and Sarah was what gave us the ability to go into exile three generations later and then later to ascend higher with the receiving of the Torah. That step also gives us the strength to survive our present exile and very soon will take us to the highest levels with the coming of Moshiach.

Until now we explained the advantage of the Jewish people in exile as a whole. Being that Avraham is the forefather of every Jewish individual, there should be a lesson for each of us on a more personal level too.

The present exile has been going on for close to 2000 years. We were born into this situation, as were our grandparents and it is not something we could have changed. Whenever one sins, however, he causes the divine presence, the shechina, to go into exile as well.

The Ramban writes that Avraham?s descent into Egypt was considered (for someone of his caliber) a sin.

Whenever the Torah recounts the ?sins? of righteous people, it comes to teach us how we should deal with our own (real) sins. When Hashem tells Avraham he will have a child he starts laughing. He says to himself "how can a 99 year old man have a child?" Why didn?t he believe Hashem? Why did he laugh? Although his soul believed, his BODY, despite being a refined and holy body, laughed. From here we see that even holy people can have situations that, from a physical perspective, can be considered sin. We learn about these ?sins? in the parsha of Lech Lecha. This teaches us that even real sins are only steps down in order to reach higher. We explained once that although we have free choice not to sin, we are created in a way that most of us are forced to sin from time to time. The ultimate purpose of sin is to repent, thereby connecting the object with which the sin was performed with, to holiness. The power to do that we receive from Avraham?s sin to go to Egypt and his subsequent exit loaded with presents.

I am sure every one will agree with me that 1900 years of exile and sins is enough to build up enormous spiritual powers. Let?s tell Hashem that Enough is Enough and bring us Moshiach NOW!
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